2009 Yarn Giveaway #6~ Christmas in July!

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Announcing Christmas In July!

Elf Hat Kit!

Kit includes:

~ 1 skein of hand dyed Holiday Green wool, (Peruvian Highland) chunky, 70 yd.

~ 1 skein of hand dyed Bright Red wool, (Peruvian Highland) chunky, 70 yd.

~ 1 skein of peach ear yarn (Mauch Chunky), 120 yd. (you choose color below)

~ 1 Jingle Bell

~ 1 Pattern/instruction/template pdf (will be emailed to you after check out).

Will fit child to adult head approx. 20-21 inches.

Gauge:1 inch= 3 ½ stitches and 6 rows

Needles not included-- recommended needle size:

For hat: Size 9 circular needles, 16 in. length & Size 9 double point needles (dpn)

For ears: Size 17 needles (for ears)

Hat yarn is kettle-dyed by Battman & Reenie.


GIVEAWAY DETAILS>>>>>

TO ENTER, entertain me!
Simply place a comment in this blog entry with your favorite holiday memory.
Even if you do not celebrate Christmas.

OH- and only one entry per person please?

On Saturday August 1st I will enter the number of each comment (first comment is number 1, etc.) into a random number generator online.
I will post the winner here in the blog as well as emailing the Material Whirled newsletter list!
To join, click here (link is at the bottom of every page on the site).
Please make sure I can find your email info.
If I post your name here on in the newsletter, contact me and we can work out the fun details!

A FREE MATERIAL WHIRLED Elf Hat Kit!
a $30 dollar value!
(includes free shipping to the continental US)

I plan to do one giveaway per month ...So spread the word!

Block Party at The Little Knittery in LA!

Material Whirled yarns will be featured at a special event at The Little Knittery in
Los Angeles, CA on Thurs. July 23rd from 7-10 pm.

If you live in the area-- GO, roll in the fiber fun!

My Customers Rock!

I love to see the amazing creations made with my yarns. I love that my yarns fly from their nest and go on to become another creation entirely. Profound really.

One of my talented customer/friends is Karen Williams. She makes the most creative scarves and wraps, using a variety of handspun and commercial novelty yarns.
She is the creator of the "Crochet Boa" pattern, one of the patterns MW offers free with a yarn purchase,.
But-- lucky for YOU, she now has an etsy shop! Called Willie Ru Designs~
Go--- buy some scarves!

Knotted Scarf~

I just remade my Knotted Scarf pattern/tutorial...

It's Knot Knit.... because it's knot.

A scarf creation for those who LOVE art yarns but do not knit or crochet.

Made with your fingers!

Materials:
~ 1 skein of Material Whirled Yarn (min. 80 yards)
or any bulky or worsted weight yarn
~ Fingers (or large crochet hook)
~ Scissors
~ Embellishments (optional)

Printable Link~

ArtFiberFest ~ Day 2

(Image heavy post)
My Thursday class was "Art Studio Journal" with Roxanne Padgett. What a blast!
The objective was to make a fabric/collaged/sewn journal to hold your art supplies.
Mine of course took it's own path (shocker) and became the "Journal of Pockets".

We received this amazing packet of collage papers and supplies, which made me giddy- I am such an art supply hoar, it's a disease really...

Here are my pages after painting them, before sewing and collaging.
Here they are after the fabric, paper images and pockets were all sewn on.
(page 1 above, page 2 below)
I used images that made me happy-- a gnome holiday card from Heidi, images of the Crazy Cat Lady School (ladies in sweaters and skirts, with pearls and cigarettes, and black cats on leashes!). A butterfly card, pieces and parts of some of my painting studies, images of fabrics I printed off the web, my CT scans, and retro fabric scraps from mine and Paul's gram's stashes (that was a mouthful!). The best parts? Fabric scraps from Teesha's stash- reduction-yardsale-table. Where I should have bought MORE.
Here is the cover in progress... fabrics are... from Teesha's stash, some of my immersion dyed cottons, a scrap of some retro burlappy stuff I adore, and a bird embroidery from my gram's OCD stash. The yellow/poppy fabric on the edge is a piece of ribbon.

More pics of the journal coming later.... I did not take finished pics as I was onto the next bright and shiny object before it occurred to me to do so... nerd. What's the point of posting without finished pics? sigh. I am going to go take more now... bbs

ok-- BACK NOW-- rather than add another thousand images to this blog post, I embedded a slideshow. ...here:


If you click HERE... then click the 'show info' link, my descriptions will show for each image.

Please NOTICE... the finished journal has many, many fantiastico pockets, into which I stuffed the lovely trades I collected at AFF.
Also... my fav part--- is the couched handspun! Which means I sewed strands of one of my handspun singles down with my sewing machine. LOVED this... it really added texture and depth to the pages... I plan to do much more of this in the future.

You can see the rest of my ArtFiberFest album here.

ArtFiberFest Adventures ~ Day 1

WoW-- what a fun experience!

Wed. I arrived at Reed College-- which is beyond gorgeous.... reminded me of east coast architecture-- with a dash of Hogwarts. (More pics of the characters in the architecture below...)
Wed. evening was the opening meeting-- where Teesha shares logistical details with all of the students and the teachers are introduced. Not a huge deal, but I had to do a 2 min. speechy thing about art and life and things that inspire me. I shared my favorite quote, "It's the process of creation that keeps me sort of a bubble and a half above perpetual anxiety in my life." ~Ze Frank
Which I told them replaces my previous favorite quote-- "I knit so I don't kill people".

I then talked about my ArtFest experience from the past two years, and how each fest brings it's own epiphany.
First year I realized that there ARE people like me in this world. A lot of them. I have met a few in my life, but a group of 600? Frightening and exhilarating.

Second year I realized that I don't need to be so hard on myself for being such an overachiever. haha. For those times when I have ten plates in the air at once and just exhaust myself. You can read more about my epiphany in this entry. (link)
Here is a blurb of it...
"I find myself going in A.D.D. circles. Is it REALLY ADD? or am I over committed? sigh. All self-inflicted. I tried the simplification thing but it made me depressed and sad. I just filled the open slots with more projects and commitments. THE GOOD NEWS IS.... I am NOT alone! At ArtFest they had a teacher panel night, where the teachers sat at a table with microphones and the crowd shot questions at them. This was one of the best things about the week. They hit many many topics that were so very relative to me that I found myself on the verge of tears so many times. They spoke of creative inspiration and over commitments, finding studio time, family, mommy-guilt, artist-guilt, how being an artist is not viewed as a 'real job' and on and on... I am NOT weird! NOT crazy! I am an ARTIST! The many plates in the air? They are all different embodiments of my creativity. I approach everything as if it were an art medium, from my spinning to my garden to my errands to my precious girls. When I realize that I really view it all as my art (and it totally is) I am so much kinder to myself. I process things differently than most. I am an over-achiever. I am manic. I am crazy and I am not crazy. I am unique. "

The lesson of this year's ArtFiberFest? Time to push Reenie out of her box.
I need to be teaching. After all, I am a trained art teacher ( with a degree and everything!). Just a room full of thirty 7 year olds and paint?- with a 40 minute time frame? not my favorite thing.
BUT-- a room full of crazy, creative women? LOVE it. love love love it. my peoples.

I have some really cool ideas to propose to teach at next year's ArtFiberFest, and some to offer here in my studio. So if you are local to the Portland OR area and are interested in taking some classes, drop me an email and I will notify you once I figure things out.

Well-- off to hang with my MIL, she is here visting from PA. I think I will drag the spinning wheel out to the deck and spin a few.

Next post-- about my classes. so much fun....

More Reed architecture pics... click the images to see larger versions.